Virgin boss Richard Branson has defended his company’s growing role in NHS services.

The billionaire came to the defence of Virgin Care after he and the company came under attack for the millions of pounds it has received from the NHS.

In a blog posted on Friday, January 12, Richard Branson argued that his intention when setting up Virgin Care was to not to make money, but to help the NHS because he believes that everyone should get free healthcare.

He said: “I’ve always passionately believed in a universal free health service and felt we could use Virgin’s experience in other sectors and our wonderful people to try to help improve publicly-funded health and care. We would aim to save the NHS and local authorities a lot of money by running it more efficiently and by innovating in the way we undertook those services.”

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He said: “Over the last 50 years, I have been fortunate to build many successful companies and do not want or intend to profit personally from the NHS. Indeed, I have invested millions in Virgin Care to help it transform its services for the better and to improve both the patient and employee experience.

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“Contrary to reports, the Virgin Care group has not made a profit to date.

“If and when I could take a dividend from Virgin Care (which would make us a profit over and above our overall investment), I will invest 100 per cent of that money back into helping NHS patients young and old, with our frontline employees deciding how best to spend it.”

Richard Branson said Virgin Care has not yet turned a profit

Mr Branson also defended Virgin Care’s widely condemned receipt of a reported £328,000 in a settlement with the NHS. The company sued the NHS last year after it lost a bid to win an £82 million contract to provide children’s health services in Surrey, citing “serious flaws” in the way the contract was awarded.

Public anger at the settlement has sparked a petition, which more than 121,000 people have signed, calling on Virgin Care to return the money.

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Mr Branson said: “As to the reported legal challenge in Surrey, Virgin Care’s preference was to re-run the flawed process but the contract commissioners turned it into a damages only dispute.

“Contrary to media reports this money has not been pocketed by Virgin or myself but continues to be invested in frontline NHS services delivered by Virgin Care as it continues to drive improvements across the country.”

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